Your Own New Year’s Speech: Everything Must Change

Christmas is past. We’ve left the manger behind us. We marvelled at Immanuel, like the shepherds. We kissed Jesus, like Mary and Joseph, and worshipped Him, as the Wise Men did. Now that’s passed, and we hurry into the New Year: busy times ahead. The Baby of Bethlehem is, at least for the next 30 years or so, not going to do anything anyway. No worry.

As we enter into 2011, this is a moment to realise that He is the King of Kings.

Everything Must Change is the title of Brian McLaren’s book (2007) about Jesus, global crises and a revolution of hope. The title is derived from what a woman said while McLaren was ministering in Rwanda, and it dawned to her how radical Jesus’ kingdom claims were: ‘If this is true (she said), than everything must change’.

Is this not a bit too far-fetched? Too radical? For me, personally, one of the major events this year was the Third Lausanne Congress of World Evangelism in Cape Town, in October. The whole church, taking the whole gospel, to the whole world. Too radical, too big a taks even to dream of? Actually, it boils down to the same thing: everything must change.

Most of us are not in a position to present their own New Year’s Speech. Or they would not have an audience beyond their own small family circle – and this group might not always be all that  eager to listen… But why don’t you write down, just for yourself, what you see before you for the next 365 days in 2011?

Anything less than everything must change does not concur with the gospel of Jesus’ Kingdom.

And even if you don’t plan for it: everything will change.

 

Our Lord is not the Unmoved Mover, as Aristotle pictured God. He is the Most Moved Mover, to borrow the title from Clark Pinnocks book. He is compassionate, involved, working hard on His creation, not just ‘running the shop’. It is change that He is bringing about.

Can we change our national and international political situation?

Can we bring movement in our sometimes motionless churches?

Can we make an end to human suffering, wars, corruption, abuse, rape, theft, crime?

Can we stop the ongoing climate deterioriation?

 

We cannot.

But we are disciples of a King who can and who will. And He is not postponing His program unto a millennium in a far future. He says (in Revelation 21:5) that He is in the business of making all things new. Which does not only mean that He will turn around everything in the universe in a future day. Everything He does is a rejuvenation process, which will end in the renewal of all things. The devil still works counter to that, and wants to make everything old, rigid, dull. What God does, will do and does now, is making everything new.

So He can! And He will. And we will be available for Him, as His co-workers.

Let’s not ‘write our new year’s speeches’ in the hope that everything (or nearly everything) will remain the same, and leave us unchallenged or untouched. Let’s speak boldy to our own souls, and eagerly look for the changes He will bring about. Some of these will hurts us, cost us something – or even more than something. Some of these changes might even could even touch our very life. But everything will change, and everything will work together for the good of those who love Him. He will change the face of the earth, according to His promise in Psalm 104:30. And he starts, in small bits and pieces, by us being changed and being the change itself.